Advisers say holiday shoppers should start shopping early. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is causing shipping delays and supply shortages. This is what you should do.
Though holidays may be a couple of months away, experts are saying that we should start shopping early. Material shortages and shipping delays are affecting nearly every area in retail.
” The U.S. supply chain has been faced with overwhelming demands, and retailers are expecting shipping costs to quadruple compared to 2020,”
the Wall Street Journal reports.
This means that the problem goes as far back as the manufacturing process. Companies of electronics and toys are having trouble gathering the components needed to make said products.
All corners of international transportation have been slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic. And with the new threat of the Delta variant, the situation has only gotten worse. Continued outbreaks caused workers to miss shifts, close port terminals, keep truckers home, and slow cross-border movements.
At times when workers are having trouble filling jobs, more work presents itself. Cargo ships must be unloaded around the clock to attempt to start clearing the “parking lot” of ships off the coasts.
President Joe Biden’s administration announced on October 13th that the White House would be working to start solving some of the larger problems of the situation. Such as providing incentives to increase their trucking, docks and warehouse hours in an effort to speed up the process of the retail and cargo systems.